Tanzania’s president has announced an outbreak of Marburg virus, an Ebola-like virus, just a week after her health minister denied that there were any cases in the country.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan said at a press conference on Monday that health authorities had confirmed one case of Marburg in the north-western region of Kagera.
“We are confident that we will overcome this challenge once again,” Samia said, referring to a previous outbreak in Tanzania two years ago.
On 14 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a suspected Marburg outbreak in the country, having recorded nine suspected cases and eight deaths over five days in Kagera.
But Tanzania’s Health Minister Jenista Mhagama said in a statement that after samples had been analysed, all suspected cases were found negative for Marburg.
At Monday’s press briefing, which was held jointly with the WHO, President Samia said her government had stepped up its efforts and that a rapid response team had been dispatched to follow up on all suspected cases.
Marburg is highly infectious, with symptoms including fever, muscle pains, diarrhoea, vomiting and, in some cases, death through extreme blood loss.
On average, the virus kills half of the people it infects, according to the WHO.
Tanzania says that along with the one confirmed case, authorities took samples from 24 other people suspected of having Marburg. These all tested negative.
Meanwhile, the cause of the eight deaths reported by the WHO has yet to be revealed.
Tanzania experienced its first Marburg outbreak in March 2023 in the Bukoba district. It killed six people and lasted for nearly two months.
WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the global risk from Tanzania’s current outbreak was “low”.
“Even though there is no approved treatment or vaccines, outbreaks can be stopped quickly,” he said. “WHO advises against restrictions. Now is the time for collaboration.”
On Thursday, Africa CDC, the African Union’s public health agency, said more than 300 contacts had been identified for further testing. Health workers make up 56 of these contacts, while 16 on the list are known to have had direct contact with those suspected to have had Marburg.
The International Health Regulations (IHR) of 2005 require countries to report public health events and emergencies that could cross borders. Kagera is a transit hub with many people travelling to and from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.
In December, neighbouring Rwanda declared that an outbreak in the country, which had infected 66 people and killed 15, was over.
The Marburg virus is transmitted to humans from fruit bats and then through contact with bodily fluids of infected individuals.
There are no specific treatments or a vaccine for the virus, although trials are under way.
Newly sworn-in Governor Bob Ferguson addressed the crowd Saturday, pledging to challenge any unconstitutional policies from the incoming administration.
“My job is different than it was the last time Donald Trump was president,” said Ferguson, who served 12 years as attorney general. “But I can assure you, if this administration engages in any action that violates the law, that exceeds his authority and harms your rights or the people of the state or our environment, I will stand up, and we will stop them again.”
In Tacoma, a protest is set to take place at Fireman’s Park at 2 p.m., organized by a coalition of more than 17 groups opposing Trump’s presidency. The Seattle protest is at 9 a.m.
Seattle police reported that the weekend’s People’s March caused minor traffic delays but remained peaceful.
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Cecile Richards, a lifelong advocate for women’s rights who led Planned Parenthood for 12 years, has died at the age of 67 after a battle with brain cancer, her family said in a statement Monday morning. Richards, the eldest daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, forged her own path as an activist and political force for women across Texas and the United States.
Richards helped reshape Planned Parenthood into a political powerhouse as well as the nation’s leading provider of reproductive and sexual health care. She led the organization during a tumultuous time of attacks from Republicans, state efforts to defund the clinics and the first election of President Donald J. Trump. After leaving the organization in 2018, she remained active in Democratic politics and the fight for reproductive rights until her death.
Even after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, an incurable brain cancer in mid-2023, Richards continued pushing, helping amplify the stories of women impacted by abortion bans and working on a abortion information chatbot. She first shared her diagnosis with The Cut in January 2024.
In August, she spoke at the Democratic National Convention on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris, saying “when women are free to make their own decisions about about their lives and to follow our dreams, we are unstoppable.” When Trump defeated Harris in November, Richards wrote on social media, “Those of us who have been at this a while have lived the truism that when you’re fighting for justice, you lose, you lose, you lose – and then you win. That’s especially true when it comes to the fight for reproductive freedom.”
Richards died at home Monday, just hours before Trump was set to be inaugurated for his second term. She was at home with herfamily and her dog, Ollie, according to a statement from her husband and three children.
“We invite you to put on some New Orleans jazz, gather with friends and family over a good meal, and remember something she said a lot over the last year: ‘It’s not hard to imagine future generations one day asking, ‘When there was so much at stake for our country, what did you do? The only acceptable answer is: Everything we could,” the family wrote.
Richards was born in Waco in 1957, the eldest daughter of David, a civil rights lawyer, and Ann, a then-housewife who became increasingly involved in Democratic politics. In Dallas, Austin, and a stint in Washington, D.C., Richards was raised to fight for social justice, wearing a black armband to school to protest the war in Vietnam.
When she was 16, Richards joined her mother in campaigning for Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who argued Roe v. Wade, in her campaign for the Texas Legislature. She attended Brown University, where she “majored in history, but minored in agitating,” as she wrote in her book, and interned for an organization implementing the newly passed Title IX. She skipped walking at her college graduation to instead unfurl a “Free South Africa” banner calling on Brown to divest its financial holdings in Apartheid-era South Africa, which the university later did.
After graduation, she began working as a labor organizer across the South, where she met her husband, Kirk Adams. At age 30, she moved back to Texas to help her mother campaign to become the first female governor of Texas in modern times.
After George W. Bush defeated Gov. Richards for a second term, Cecile got involved in grassroots organizing in Texas, starting by challenging the steady conservative takeover of school boards and curriculum. She founded the Texas Freedom Alliance, which organized Texans around public education and religious liberty, and the Texas Faith Network, a group of religious leaders speaking out about the conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. Eventually, the groups joined to become the Texas Freedom Network.
Richards went on to work for then-Democratic whip Nancy Pelosi and founded America Votes, a coalition of progressive grassroots organizations that register, educate and turn out voters. That’s where she was working when she got the call to interview to run Planned Parenthood in 2006.
Richards later described working at Planned Parenthood as a “natural extension” of the labor organizing work where she got her start.
“The same folks I organized in hotels in New Orleans, or janitors in Los Angeles, or nursing home workers in East Texas, they’re the folks that rely on Planned Parenthood, too,” she told the Brown alumni magazine in 2018. “People come to us for reproductive health care but they need a lot of other things. They need a living wage. They need child care that’s affordable. If they’re immigrants, they need us to stand with them. To me that’s the exciting thing about the organization.”
When Richards took over the organization, it was the largest provider of reproductive health care in the country. But she recalled Jill June, the director of Planned Parenthood in Iowa, telling her the organization’s real challenge lay in the political arena.
“But we keep losing ground … and we can’t count on another organization to fix it for us,” Richards recalls June telling her. “We need to get back to our movement roots.”
Over the course of 12 years, Richards helped transform Planned Parenthood into one of the most popular political institutions in the nation, growing the base of donors and volunteers from three million to 11 million. She raised more money than at any other point in the organization’s history, and reinvigorated the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the organization’s political advocacy arm.
She ushered in an era of unity among the federation’s 49 affiliates, helping create a one-stop website for patients looking for services anywhere in the country.
But Richards’ 12 years at Planned Parenthood were also marked by some of the organization’s most difficult times, as it battled increasing attacks from conservative, anti-abortion groups. Richards’ home state of Texas led the way in “defunding” Planned Parenthood, cutting affiliated clinics out of state-funded programs for contraception, breast and cervical cancer screenings and HIV prevention.
Things came to a head in 2015, when an anti-abortion group secretly recorded and released videos appearing to show Planned Parenthood employees in California discussing the illegal sale of fetal remains. While apologizing for the employee’s tone, Richards vehemently denied that Planned Parenthood ever profited from the sale of fetal remains. In a contentious, hours-long Congressional hearing led by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, Richards was grilled about Planned Parenthood’s spending, its strategy, and the services it provides. Congressional Republicans focused on the group’s abortion services, which are ineligible for federal funding.
That investigation, as well as subsequent congressional and state-level investigations, failed to turn up any evidence that Planned Parenthood had ever profited from the sale of fetal remains. But in many ways, the damage was done. Texas began a years-long effort to remove Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program, which remains ongoing today, and other states followed suit.
Richards left Planned Parenthood in 2018, but remained active in Democratic politics, and especially the fight for reproductive health care. She helped found Supermajority, a group working to get more women into Democratic politics, a storytelling collective called Abortion in America, and was co-chair of American Bridge, a political action committee and opposition research group dedicated to “holding Republicans accountable.”
She also helped start Charley, an abortion chatbot that helps people in states that have banned abortion access information about medication abortion. In November 2024, Richards received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden.
Richards is survived by her husband, Kirk Adams, a labor organizer, and her three children, Lily, Hannah and Daniel.
Planned Parenthood president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson mourned the loss of “a giant in the fight.”
“As we continue to navigate unchartered territory, we will be able to meet the challenges we face in large part because of the movement Cecile built over decades,” McGill Johnson said in a statement. “I know, without a doubt, that Cecile would tell us the best way to honor her memory is to suit up — preferably in pink — link arms, and fight like hell for Planned Parenthood patients across the country.”
Disclosure: Planned Parenthood and Texas Freedom Network have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
As the new Trump administration takes the reins in the White House, there is feverish speculation about how its policies will reshape NASA’s direction and priorities, as well as the wider space sector.
Swift and profound changes could impact a number of areas of space, such as the future of the agency’s Artemis moon program, which rockets are favored or canceled, funding levels for Earth and climate science and the very operation of NASA itself.
Battles will play out over the coming months and years to decide the direction and extent of a number of U.S. programs and agencies, with push and pull between factions calling for budget cuts or strengthened spending in key areas. Here are some of the big issues and the factors that may decide their fate.
To the moon or Mars?
One of the big issues — with potentially seismic implications for NASA’s direction, America’s relations with its international space partners and geopolitics — is the future of the Artemis program. Artemis, established by the first Trump administration with the goal of returning humans to the moon, and continued by the outgoing Biden presidency, is years behind schedule, with scrutiny surrounding delays and technical issues.
Elon Musk, the multibillionaire head of SpaceX, a very active part of Trump’s election campaign, and co-leader of the new “Department of Government Efficiency,” stated on his social media platform X on Jan. 3 that “we’re going straight to Mars. The moon is a distraction.” For all of Musk’s apparent influence, however, it may not be so easy to shift and redefine NASA’s direction, with the U.S. Congress having a big say in any developments.
“The new Trump Administration might try to skip the moon and go straight to Mars, but I expect they would encounter the same backlash from Congress as Obama did when he proposed that in 2010,” Marcia Smith, who has 40 years of space policy experience and is founder and editor of SpacePolicyOnline, told Space.com. “Congress wants a moon-to-Mars program, not one or the other.”
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
Dropping the moon as a target would also have geopolitical ramifications, with China also seeking partners for its International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a parallel but completely separate moon program.
However, some aspects of Artemis, such as the Gateway, which seeks to establish a space station in lunar orbit as a stepping stone to landing astronauts on the moon, could be in the new administration’s crosshairs over cost and delays. Such a move would have repercussions with a number of international partners, such as the European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) already working on pertinent Gateway hardware.
“Whether Gateway remains part of it is another matter. I can’t even guess what that answer will be,” Smith said.
Space Launch System
Another uncertainty is the future of the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA’s expendable megarocket to enable crewed moon missions. SpaceX is developing the Starship system, which could provide a reusable alternative, but moves to cancel SLS — which has been criticized over unsustainable costs and numerous delays and quality control on the part of lead contractor Boeing — will likely face resistance. Musk also posted his views on the Artemis architecture, stating it to be extremely inefficient.
“The new administration might try to cancel SLS, but it has a lot of support in Congress, which created SLS in the first place in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act,” Smith explained. However, some aspects of the system, such as the larger, more powerful Block 1B, could be on the chopping block.
“I sincerely doubt SLS as a whole will be canceled, but would not be surprised if Block IB is terminated in favor of commercial alternatives that weren’t even on the drawing boards in 2010, but are coming online now,” she said.
Donald Trump has tapped billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to head up NASA. Isaacman has already embarked on two commercial spaceflights using SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, organizing, funding and commanding both efforts.
Isaacman will need to be officially nominated and then approved by the U.S. Senate. Smith reported that the expected nomination has already gathered support from Republicans, but not without criticism over Isaacman’s past campaign donations to Democratic candidates.
While he would be somewhat beholden to decisions made by Congress, Isaacman would bring his own views and preferences to NASA at a potentially transformative moment for the agency
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the USSF-124 mission for the U.S. Space Force from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Feb. 14, 2024. In the foreground is another Falcon 9, which launched Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus moon lander from Kennedy Space Center that same day. (Image credit: SpaceX via X)
The US Space Force
The U.S. Space Force, which was established by the previous Trump administration back in December 2019, will likely see changes during the new administration. It is currently based in Colorado but could be moved. Its level of funding could also be an issue of fierce debate as priorities and details are thrashed out in Congress.
“Getting money for Space Force or anything else in the government is going to be one of the defining battles this year, not just between Democrats and Republicans, but within the Republican party,” said Smith. “Congressional defense hawks want huge increases in defense spending, while hard-line Republicans are totally focused on debt reduction.”
The two don’t match, she noted. “As for moving Space Command from Colorado to Alabama, it’s almost a foregone conclusion.”
Climate and Earth sciences
Similar battles will play out over climate and Earth science, with the Trump administration likely keen to cut funding for these endeavors, but once again facing pushback from Congress.
“It’s tough to gauge how far Congress would go this time to save those NASA programs, but the bigger fight likely will be over NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration],” said Smith. NOAA conducts work and research related to weather and climate and other areas.
The return of the Trump administration promises a turbulent and transformative period for NASA and the broader U.S. space sector. With debates swirling over the future of Artemis, the role of commercial players like SpaceX, the fate of flagship programs like the Space Launch System, and NASA’s commitments to climate science, the stakes appear high. The decisions made in the coming months will reverberate across U.S. space policy.
No new tariffs on day onepublished at 15:28 Greenwich Mean Time
15:28 GMT
Michelle Fleury BBC World News Correspondent
Trump’s incoming team have confirmed reporting in the Wall Street Journal that while the incoming president will issue a memo directing federal agencies to study trade policies, there will not be new tariffs announced today.
The incoming Trump administration will also sign a presidential memorandum on inflation for an “all of government approach” to bring down prices “as soon as possible”, according to incoming White House administration officials.
They also said that Trump would make good on Trump’s
campaign promise to “drill baby drill”, taking a number of actions to
boost American energy production.
One executive order is focused on Alaska. The state
was described as having an incredible abundance of natural resources that
previous administrations had failed to take advantage of. Critical minerals
were mentioned as being crucial.
Additionally, Trump will sign an executive order
declaring a National Energy Emergency. Officials said “high costs of
energy” were unnecessary and had been punitive for people over the past four
years.
The action is also crucial, they told reporters, because of the AI (artificial intelligence) race – the US needs to generate the power to stay at the forefront of this
technology which requires a lot of energy.
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was formally arrested early on Sunday, days after being apprehended at his presidential compound in Seoul.
The decision to arrest Yoon triggered unrest at the Seoul Western District Court, where dozens of his supporters broke in and rioted, destroying the main door and windows. They used plastic chairs, metal beams and police shields that they managed to wrestle away from officers. Some were seen throwing objects and using fire extinguishers, destroying furniture and glass doors. They shouted demands to see the judge who had issued the warrant, but she had already left.
Hundreds of police officers were deployed and nearly 90 protesters were arrested. Some injured police officers were seen being treated at ambulance vans. The court said it was trying to confirm whether any staff members were injured and assess the damage to its facilities.
A court deliberated for 8 hours
Following eight hours of deliberation, the court granted law enforcement’s request for an arrest warrant for Yoon, saying he was a threat to destroy evidence. Yoon and his lawyers on Saturday appeared before the court and argued for his release.
Yoon, who has been in detention since he was apprehended Wednesday in a massive law enforcement operation at his residential compound, faces potential rebellion charges linked to his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, which set off the country’s most serious political crisis since its democratization in the late 1980s.
While South Korean presidents have wide-ranging immunity from prosecution while in office, the protection does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and the military, can now extend Yoon’s detention to 20 days, during which they will transfer the case to public prosecutors for indictment.
Yoon’s lawyers could also file a petition to challenge the court’s arrest warrant.
Yoon’s appearance in court triggered chaotic scenes in nearby streets, where thousands of his fervent supporters rallied for hours calling for his release. Even before the court issued the warrant for Yoon’s arrest, protesters repeatedly clashed with police who detained dozens of them, including about 20 who climbed over a fence in an attempt to approach the court. At least two vehicles carrying anti-corruption investigators were damaged as they left the court after arguing for Yoon’s arrest.
Yoon’s lawyers said he spoke for about 40 minutes to the judge during the nearly five-hour closed-door hearing Saturday. His legal team and anti-corruption agencies presented opposing arguments about whether he should be held in custody.
Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several top military commanders have already been arrested and indicted for their roles in the enforcement of martial law.
Yoon’s lawyer decries his arrest
The crisis began when Yoon, in an attempt to break through legislative gridlock, imposed military rule and sent troops to the National Assembly and election offices. The standoff lasted only hours after lawmakers who managed to get through a blockade voted to lift the measure. The opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14.
His political fate now lies with the Constitutional Court, which is deliberating whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him.
Seok Dong-hyeon, one of Yoon’s lawyers, called the court’s decision to issue the warrant “the epitome of anti-constitutionalism and anti-rule of law,” maintaining Yoon’s claim that his martial law decree was a legitimate act of governance. He pointed to the chaos at the Seoul Western Court and said Yoon’s arrest would inspire more anger from his supporters.
Yoon’s People Power Party regretted his arrest but also pleaded for his supporters to refrain from further violence.
The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which drove the legislative effort to impeach Yoon on Dec. 14, said his arrest would be a “cornerstone for restoring the collapsed constitutional order.” Kim Sung-hoi, a party lawmaker and spokesperson, called for stern punishment of Yoon’s supporters who stormed the court.
“I urge police to firmly enforce the law so that forces supporting rebellion will never even think of causing turmoil again,” he said.
The country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, expressed “strong regret” about the violence at the court, saying it “directly undermines democracy and the rule of law.” He asked for heightened security at the sites related to Yoon’s case and measures to ensure order during protests.
Yoon was transported to the court from a detention center in Uiwang, near Seoul, in a blue Justice Ministry van escorted by police and the presidential security service, to attend the hearing at the court ahead of its warrant decision.
The motorcade entered the court’s basement parking space as thousands of Yoon’s supporters gathered in nearby streets amid a heavy police presence. Following the hearing, Yoon was transported back to the detention center, where he awaited the decision. He did not speak to reporters.
After its investigators were attacked by protesters later on Saturday, the anti-corruption agency asked media companies to obscure the faces of its members attending the hearing.
Yoon insists his martial law decree was legitimate
Yoon and his lawyers have claimed that the martial law declaration was intended as a temporary and “peaceful” warning to the liberal opposition, which he accuses of obstructing his agenda with its legislative majority. Yoon says the troops sent to the National Election Commission offices were to investigate election fraud allegations, which remains unsubstantiated in South Korea.
Yoon has stressed he had no intention of stopping the functioning of the legislature. He stated that the troops were sent there to maintain order, not prevent lawmakers from entering and voting to lift martial law. He denied allegations that he ordered the arrests of key politicians and election officials.
Military commanders, however, have described a deliberate attempt to seize the legislature that was thwarted by hundreds of civilians and legislative staff who helped lawmakers enter the assembly, and by the troops’ reluctance or refusal to follow Yoon’s orders.
If prosecutors indict Yoon on rebellion and abuse of power charges, which are the allegations now being examined by investigators, they could keep him in custody for up to six months before trial.
If the first court convicts him and issues a prison term, Yoon would serve that sentence as the case possibly moves up to the Seoul High Court and Supreme Court. Under South Korean law, orchestrating a rebellion is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty.
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